Film Review: John Wick

A Rigorous Return for Reeves

Ever since the release of The Raid and The Raid 2, my expectations of what can be achieved in an action movie has been well and truly raised, with those two films being the standout features in an ever-increasing genre over the course of the past few years. Now we have John Wick, featuring Neo himself as the titular character, hell bent on revenge after Russian gangsters steal his ride and kill his Beagle puppy, given to him by his late wife in order to cope with her recent death. John Wick is a lot of things, but The Raid it is not. It's still pretty darn fun though.

Featuring Reeves' best performance since, well, forever, John Wick oozes style from the get-go, with its' ultra-violent tendencies sometimes endangering it from going full on comic-book, which on the face of it, isn't bad at all, particularly when looking at the absurd violence in the wonderful Kick-Ass, and it is here where the level of violence is in John Wick is kept at. Not too violent, but violent enough. Add into that strong but subtle performances from Willem Dafoe and  Ian McShane, John Wick has enough substance to partner the rather obvious style well. And it rocks.

Yes, it may adhere to some of the generic action movie tropes, but John Wick is highly enjoyable throughout the course of its' 100 minute runtime, featuring the most effective use of a handgun since Collateral, and solidifying Reeves' return into action-movie stardom. Sequel in the works I hear? Bring it.

Overall Score: 8/10